North Korea tests 'high-thrust solid fuel engine'
North Korea has successfully tested a "high thrust solid fuel engine" to develop a new weapon, the official North Korean news agency KCNA reported.
The test was conducted under the supervision of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, "and it provided a scientific and technological guarantee for the development of a new type of strategic weapon."
Footage of the successful test conducted at the Sohae satellite launch base in Tongchang-ri in the northwest of the country showed the North Korean leader observing the steady launch of the engine that spewed out powerful yellow flames.
Despite the international sanctions imposed on it, Pyongyang continues to enhance its military arsenal, with intercontinental ballistic missiles in particular.
All of these weapons have so far been powered by liquid rocket fuel, but Kim Jong Un has made solid fuel engines a strategic priority in order to produce more advanced missiles.
Using fuel rockets is more difficult and preparing them takes more time, according to analysts.
These missiles are slower and can be more easily detected and destroyed by the enemy.
In contrast, solid-fuel missiles are "more maneuverable, can be launched more quickly, and can be hidden," says Eric Eisley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
He explained that the adoption of this new technology will make the North Korean arsenal "more dangerous."
The engine test constitutes only a first stage, and it is difficult to know where Pyongyang has reached on the road to developing such a missile, according to experts.
"It is difficult to assess the momentum that has been achieved," Joseph Dempsey, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told AFP.
Kim Jong Un said this year that North Korea's adoption of nuclear weapons is "irreversible" and expressed his determination to possess the most powerful nuclear arsenal in the world.
Part of this arsenal will be solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles launched from sea or land.
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